1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to formulations that simultaneously clean and lubricate a surface. More particularly, the present invention relates to such formulations which clean the surface of cotton picker spindles and simultaneously leave a lubricant layer on the cleaned spindles.
2. Background
Mechanized cotton harvesters, commonly referred to as cotton pickers, remove cotton from the cotton plants and deposit the removed cotton into a basket or receptacle. Many common cotton pickers, such as the John Deere model 9960 Cotton Picker and the Case-IH model 2055 Cotton Picker are of the spindle type design. These cotton pickers have individual row units which operate to separate the cotton from the cotton plants as the cotton picker travels through a field of cotton plants. As the cotton picker moves through the field of plants, stalk lifters mounted on the front of the row unit introduce cotton stalks into the row units for processing. As the cotton stalks are directed rearwardly through the row unit, spindles on rotating picker drums physically separate the cotton from the plants. Doffer units remove the cotton from the spindles and feed the separated cotton into an air stream that deposits the cotton into the basket or receptacle at the rear of the cotton picker.
The picker drums, which rotate about their axis, have a plurality of tapered spindles extending outwardly from the surface of the picker drum. As the picker drum rotates about its axis, the spindles rotate about their longitudinal axis. The surface of the spindles contain a rows of barbs. As the cotton stalks feed through the row unit, the dual rotation of the spindles breaks up the cotton stalks and removes the cotton therefrom. This action causes the cotton to wrap around the spindles. The cotton-wrapped spindles pass under the doffer mechanism which unwinds the cotton from the spindles and pushes it off the end of the spindle into the air stream for delivery to the cotton basket.
The typical doffer mechanism comprises one or more rotating doffer disks. The rotating action of the doffer disks effectively peel the cotton from the spindles. The doffer disks do not contact the spindles in order to unwind the cotton from the spindle, instead they rotate approximately 0.010 inches above the spindles. Any contact will result in excessive wear for the spindle and doffer disks components of the cotton picker, which generally results in undesirable downtime for the cotton picker to replace or readjust the doffer disks. However, because the cotton can be tightly wrapped about the spindle between the barbs, it often does require a significant amount of doffing force to unwind the cotton axially off the spindles. This force can still damage the spindles or doffer disks. To reduce the likelihood of damage, the typical cotton picker utilizes moisture units to supply lubrication to the spindles to ease the removal of the cotton from the spindles and reduce the wear on the spindle and doffer disks. The moisture units typically comprise a series of pads connected to a supply of moisturizing fluid. These pads are constantly supplied with fluid and are positioned to effectively contact the spindles as the drum rotates them past the moisture unit. Various fluid lines deliver the moisturizing fluid under pressure from the fluid supply to the pads.
In order to obtain maximum efficiency of the spindle action for picking cotton, it is important that the spindles are cleaned of cotton, cotton-related materials such as plant juices and plant debris, and dust before the spindles rotate to receive and process cotton. The doffing action of the doffer disks does not remove all of this material. Any cotton or debris that is left on the spindles can damage the moisture pads and, in more severe cases, result in the drum clutch slipping as the wrapped spindle attempts to pass through the moisturizing assembly. This typically requires the cotton picker to be shut down and the spindles manually accessed. The scrubbing action of the pads against the spindles does provide some cleaning action. However, to facilitate the action of the doffer disks and the pads, most cotton farming operations utilize a moisturizing fluid that contains some amount of cleaning solution and lubricant. The cleaning solution helps remove cotton and other debris from the spindles. The lubricant provides a barrier to reduce wear on the spindles and doffer disks and provides additional cotton removing capability by reducing the ability of the cotton to stick to the spindles.
The typical spindle moisturizing fluid comprises a base water soluble petroleum oil with a friction reducing agent and a number of other additives, such as viscosity improvers, antifoam agents, antioxidants and the like, added to the base oil. One such product is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,346 issued on Jun. 11, 1974 to Coppock. As with the moisturizing fluid described in the '346 patent, most commonly available moisturizing fluids utilize a water soluble petroleum product as the base material. The use of a petroleum product as the base material for the moisturizing fluid has a number of potentially serious problems. One such problem is related to the general handling and distribution of an oil-based product on farming property. Environmental concerns, such as contamination of the soil or water supplies, can arise if any of the product is spilled while filling the fluid storage container or as an inherent result of the spraying or dripping of the oil-based product from the pads during the cleaning and moisturizing process. In addition, oil contaminated cotton can cause ginning and manufacturing problems, such as smoke from ginning units and the inability to utilize certain dyes. Another problem that can arise is contamination of the cotton itself from the oil-based product. Too much of the oil-based product in the moisturizing fluid can contaminate the harvested cotton and result in a lower value for the cotton. Another potential problem is the accumulation of cotton around the doffer mechanism has been known to create frictional forces to build against the doffer mechanism. In the worst case, these frictional forces can result in a fire. Yet another disadvantage of using oil-based fluids is the separation of the oil-based moisturizer from the water in which it is diluted.
Some cotton operations avoid the problems and costs associated with oil-based cleaners and lubricants by utilizing water as the cleaning and lubricating agent. However, water alone is generally not satisfactory as a cleaning or lubricating fluid. Some previously available water-based moisturizing fluids have utilized chemicals that are now considered carcinogenic, or which are either expensive to use or difficult to obtain. Consequently, a need exists for a cleaning and lubricating formulation for cotton picker spindles that effectively cleans off cotton and cotton-related materials from the spindles and provides a layer of lubricant to reduce the wear on the spindles and doffer disks and assist with the doffing of the cotton from the spindle.